Improvement in car-brakes



UNITED STATES y PATENT GEORGE WCSTINGIHRISE, Jl., Ol? PI'ITSBURG, IENNSLYANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN, CAR-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 147,21Q, dated February 3, 1874; application filed December 27, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WEs'rINe- HOUSE, Jr., of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway Fluid-Pressure Brakes 5 and I d0 hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my improved brake apparatus, illustrative of its application to the driver-wheels of a locomotive; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof through .r x of Fig. 1.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts of each.

My invention, though applicable to revolving wheels generally for breaking purposes, is particularly adapted and designed for use in connection withthe driver-wheels of locomotives, especially when such wheels (ou the same side of the locomotive) are comparativelyT near each other, so near in fact that itis difficult, impossible, or inconvenient to apply thereto the system of brake-levers described in patent to me of October 2S, 1873,' No. 144,005.

The ordinary drive-wheels of a locomotiveengine are shown at B 13, and B indicates portions of the frame-work of the locomotive. The brake-blocks 'or shoes (l and hangers al are of like construction and operation as in the patent last named 5 as also the brake-cylinder b and the stein c of the piston therein. To the brake-shoes l I pivot the eccentricfaced segment-levers e e in such position that their circular or curved faces or peripheries shall work against each other, or against any desired block or other device placed between them. At any desired points in the direction of the lengths of their curved peripheries, and

preferably near the lower ends of the same, I

` pivot, as shown in the drawings, the connecting rods or stirrups c', which, at their opposite and upper ends, are jointed to the lower end of the piston-stem c. The segment-levers c are somewhat eccentric, their working faces `at the lower ends being somewhat farther Irom the center of motion than such faces are at their upper ends. In the drawings, s indicates the center of motion in cach, and s the center of curvature, by which the eccentricity is secured. The amount of this eccentricity maybe varied at pleasure, in'accordance with well-known rules.

The devices which I have called segmentlevers c e might properly be described, as iu fact they constitute mechanically a togglejoint, and by their use in the construction set forth, I secure the ordinary advantages of the toggle-joint, along with a uniform, or nearly uniform, application of the power at all points of the stroke, until the brake-shoes or brakeblocks are worn entirely away.

There the distance between the drivers l Bis too small to admit of the introduction and use of both the segment-levers c c, one only may be used, pivoted to one ofthe brake shoes or blocks d, with one connecting-rod, c', extending to the piston rod or stem o, and with its eccentric face working against a friction-roller pivoted to the other brake block or shoe at s.

The apparatus described is used ou both sides of the locomotive in the manner herein set fort-h, and the opposite brake blocks or shoes are connected together by tic-rods 11, as set forth in Patent No. 144,005.

In operation, the piston in the brake-cylinder b may receive its motion upwardly in applying the brakes, either from compressed air or steam admitted below the piston, or the air being exhausted above the piston by means of the well-known steam or air jet, from atmospheric pressure operating also below; and with reference to one or another of the said modes of operation, the locomotive should be tted up with the proper appliances, as set forth in Patent No. 144,005, or other suitable known apparatus for effecting the operation desired 5 also, hydraulic pressure may be employed under the piston, in connection with an air-chainber for securing the desired elasticity of operation, and the'segment-levers may receive the motion required in operating thel brakes by means of any suitable hand apparatus.v

That I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Iatent, i sl. A segment-lever7 e, having im eccentric face, in combination with the brake-shoe to which it is pivoted, substantially as set forth.

2. The segmentfievers c e, having in their Working faces the eccentricity desired for giving` the required motion to the brake-shoes, pivoted to and in combination with the brakeshoes, and operative in applying the brakes7 substantially as set forth.

3. One or more segment-levers, c, with suit- 

